On Tue, Jun 22, 2004 at 08:45:37PM -0700, Cameron Kaiser wrote:
> I still do all my DOS programming in TP5.5.
The only time I ever did any Pascal programming was under TSX-11/RT-11 on
an 11/73. The system existed before I was hired - I just had to tweak an
existing (and mostly bug-free, fortunately) program to double the scan rates
on an automated ultrasonic inspection tank (filled with industrial diamonds!)
and display the higher-resolution results.
My experiences were less than pleasant due to limitations in the language
(like being forced to open of a file of record type X... we now had two
"types" of files, one with 768 nybbles per record, one with 1536 nybbles
per record). It made the code ugly, plus the compiler wasn't smart enough
to know that I would never open up both types at once, so it wouldn't overlap
the record buffers (i.e., in C, I could have allocated one buffer and used
all of it or half of it, but Pascal allocates it behind the scenes where you
can't get to it). It's one of the reasons I prefer compiled languages where
I/O is not embedded into the language structure (C, asm...)
But I'm sure lots of us could go on a Pascal rant if prompted...
-ethan
--
Ethan Dicks, A-130-S Current South Pole Weather at 23-Jun-2004 03:30 Z
South Pole Station
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Ethan.Dicks_at_amanda.spole.gov http://penguincentral.com/penguincentral.html
Received on Tue Jun 22 2004 - 22:44:26 BST